When it comes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s prohibition on bribing a foreign official, just who, pray tell, does the U.S. government consider a foreign official? It’s a question that’s seldom come before the courts, but now, for the first time, is being considered at the appellate level prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to weigh in on the definition through a response brief.
The key word at the heart of the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is “instrumentality.” In the language of the FCPA, a “foreign official” constitutes an “officer or employee of a foreign government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.”
